Washington, NJ Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

Contact the prosecutor and let him/her know of the threats. There may be ways to still preserve your testimony. Plus, possible charges against his family.

In many cases, a first offense charge of Operating While Intoxicated in Michigan can be reduced to the charge of Operating While Impaired. The benefits of such a reduction include a reduction of points, restricted license for 90 days rather than the 30 days of no license followed by 150 days of a restricted license, and saving $1,000 in financial responsibility fees. Your best course of action is to hire an attorney who can discuss these differences with you, negotiate a plea with the prosecutor, and then you can consider the plea. Also, depending on the facts in your case, there may be a possibility of an even better result. If there is any inaccuracy in the breathalyzer, some delays, contamination, no evidence of bad driving, etc . . .then you case could be one which you could consider for trial. (Ex: The datamaster machine is calibrated at .10, so a result of .08 may be questioned, especially where there are differences between the first and second test, .08 is the presumptive minimum, so interference with the test result could be raised, field sobriety tests can be questioned . . etc.)

It is impossible to predict the final disposition without much more information. Such as, what were they on probation for originally, what is their criminal history, what was the blood alcohol (Breath Test - BT) results, if any, etc. The person should not be thinking about going without an attorney and whether that attorney is court appointed or privately hired, he or she should be able to give you an idea of outcome after looking over all pertinent facts.